Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Union head Christiane Benner now holds one of the most powerful jobs in Germany, Australia's richest woman looks to spoil another lithium deal, and Wellesley College's president thinks business and higher ed need a closer relationship during turbulent times. Have a productive Monday.
- Direct pipeline. As the president of Wellesley College, Paula Johnson often gets a head start on tackling many of the issues that will rankle workplaces later on. For instance, before Gen Z professionals advocated for transparency and work-life balance, they asked more of their universities. And before anti-affirmative action lawsuits challenged corporate diversity and inclusion initiatives, such matters landed on college campuses first.
At this month's Conference Board's Women Lead Festival in New York, Johnson told me how she's handled that latter crisis, unleashed by the Supreme Court decision overturning affirmative action in June. The decision barring race-based decision-making in higher education was a "canary in the coal mine" for a spate of lawsuits targeting diversity and inclusion in the private sector, Johnson told the audience of female executives.
Wellesley, a Massachusetts-based women's college, has responded by investing more in front-line admissions officers and building better relationships with community-based organizations, she said. Even more important is the psychological impact on students of color, she added. "It's critically important that we send the message that you belong," Johnson said.
Johnson, who is a cardiologist who has studied sex and gender differences in health, anticipates that the full impact of the Supreme Court's decision will hit within the next two years. During such a turbulent time, she argues, it's increasingly important for higher education and business to be in closer communication. "College campuses are a somewhat secluded, secure environment, but [students] are coming to [employers] needing to have a whole other set of skills—and to understand what that real world is," she said. "There's a lot of work we can do together."
Post-affirmative action America is only one part of that. "There's a lot of work to do to keep that pipeline moving to ensure we are sending to you the most diverse group of young leaders that we hope we can," Johnson said. Colleges and universities, like businesses, will likely end up navigating a patchwork of laws as states respond differently to lawsuits targeting diversity work. For both, the period of "tremendous evolution" "endangers the future of the country," Johnson argues.
"Higher ed's relationship with industry does need to be even closer," she said.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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